Kenneth Taylor Black passed away on December 28, 2013. Kenny was born on May 26, 1927 in Blanding, UT to Hyrum and Hester Black. He was born in their family home and was the second of seven children.

Kenny was a busy, active child always building things. He and his brothers played together and worked together.

At a very young age, he was taught by his father to be a hard worker. Working on the farm, plowing fields with teams of horses, irrigating hay, building fences and taking care of the cows was a common task for Kenny as a boy.

He was responsible for doing many chores around the home including milking cows, feeding the chickens and slopping the hogs.

Throughout the summer, Kenny and his brothers would go out west of town. They would load big logs onto the wagon and bring them to town and chop them up into firewood.

Some of the many things that he enjoyed doing were camping out during the deer hunt, accompanying his dad on many of his road working trips, and activities in church and scouting.

Ken began his working career at an early age. He worked in hay fields, as a water boy at the vanadium mill construction job (in Monticello) and as a grease monkey at a gravel crusher site east of Monticello.

He learned to operate a “CAT”, drive a gravel truck and he worked for the U.S. Forest Service helping to build and maintain their roads. He was taught by his dad how to care for equipment—something that would stay with him the rest of his life.

At the age of seventeen, he went to the Provo and worked at several different jobs over the next few years.

Kenny was inducted into the Army, August 4, 1945, and was sent to Camp Hood, TX.

After spending some time in California, he was sent to Korea where he was on the 155 Howitzer Gun Crew and became Master Sargent in charge of vehicles. He received an honorable discharge from the Army and came back to Blanding in 1947.

Upon his return, Kenny fell in love with Eleanor Nazer. They were married July 1, 1947 in the St. George Utah Temple and were happily married for 66 years. Ken and Eleanor raised a family of six children. As a family they enjoyed going on family cookouts and family vacations to California and other places.

In his early-married life, Ken worked in the logging industry around Blanding and Kanab, UT. He also drove truck for various trucking companies.

As many of the men in San Juan County did, at that time, he tried his hand at uranium mining. After his mining experiences, he purchased a CAT dozer and built many mining and drill roads around the country.

When road building in the area slowed down, Kenny began his truck driving career, which he did for the next 25 years. He and his brother, Calvin, founded and operated C & K Trucking for a few years until Ken retired.

Kenny spent his retirement years in Blanding, where he was a daily visitor at the NAPA Auto Parts and he had many long conversations about trucking, politics, and reminiscing about the past with everyone that came in the store.

Ken was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in many callings. He and Eleanor had the opportunity of serving a mission at the Manti Utah Temple.

Eleanor and Kenny enjoyed taking trips to visit family members, including their children and grandchildren. They also had the opportunity to travel around the country and took several cruises with Ken’s siblings and their spouses.

Kenny will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Ken is preceded in death by his parents, Hyrum and Hester Black; sister Cherril; and brothers Calvin and Donald.

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